From what Darya knew, it looked like Bloody Wasps weren't much different from the wasps Leon knew. The only real difference is that they were one meter long and wide... they also could suck their target's blood with their sting. The blood could be used to heal their wounds or to increase their attack power and speed. Either way, it wasn't a good idea to let them get too close.
"I guess fire magic is the best way to deal with them... so, shall I combine wind and fire magic to create something like a Fire Tornado? It might be dangerous, so I should start with something more simple."
Leon recalled Sandstorm, the spell and that mutant wolf that almost crushed him to death used. The spell itself didn't cause much damage, but it blinded everyone nearby due to its scope. It was safer starting using that, so Leon decided to practice while he and Darya headed toward the Bloody Wasps area.
Much to his surprise, soon, Leon managed to create a small version of the Sandstorm on the palm of his hand. The wind was strong, and the sand didn't spread toward all directions... Leon was on the right track.
"I don't think a spell-like that will be useful against the bloody wasps..." Darya also replicated the smaller version of the Sandstorm.
"I'm just learning the fundamentals before trying anything more dangerous..." Leon said. "Mana Armor doesn't protect yourself from your own attacks, so you should be careful."
Little by little, Leon's control over the sandstorm increased as he also enlarged the scope of it. After walking for three days, they finally reached their territory of those creatures. Leon and Darya noticed that because they didn't see any three-eyed rats... Regardless, they only began to fight one day later when they both received the notification.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Sandstorm.
Cost: 10 mana per second
You obtained 01 status points.
The spell barely caused damage, but it was enough to prevent the wasps inside from moving. Although the consumption of mana wasn't big, it wasn't small either. The effectiveness of the spell was kind of small. It only created an area of four meters tall and large, strong winds and sand. However, both the speed of the winds and the range of the spell were increasing as the skill leveled up.
Although they bought a lot of mana potions after leaving the golems dungeon, Leon and Darya decided to save their mana and also divided the work in order to increase efficiency. Sometimes Leon used Sandstorm to stop the wasps, and Darya used Fire Bullets to kill them, and sometimes they changed their roles.
"It looks like these dungeons can spawn more monsters than others..." Darya said after noticing a few dozen wasps approaching."
"Somehow, I feel things aren't that simple..."Leon furrowed his eyebrows.
It has been a while since Leon saw so many monsters in a small area. Although those monsters were so weak and a single Fire Bullet was enough to kill them, Leon was quite worried... he felt like he forgot something... something very important.
Although Leon was in a hurry, he decided to at least learn one more Area of Effect spell before challenging the dungeon. Since the battles would happen in a confined space and the enemies were insects, the best option was to learn a fire attack.
"Let's try to learn something like a Fire Tornado," Leon said. "The boss of that dungeon is probably the bigger version of those wasps, it should be a little more resilient, but its weakness probably still is fire."
"So, we just create a tornado and add fire, right?" Darya asked.
It looked pretty simple, in theory. But if that were true, Lennart would use Fire Tornado instead of a Frozen Mist... perhaps the climate of the ambient could help or disturb the caster in that regard, but it didn't change the fact that they had to be careful. Otherwise, their own attacks would harm them.
Like always, progressing at baby steps, Leon practiced the spell. In the end, he had to be extra careful because the fire was more complicated to control than sand... Still, instead of controlling both wind and fire, Leon started to wonder why Darya was progressing at the same speed Leon was.
"Are you holding back or something?" Leon frowned.
"...What are you talking about?" Darya looked away after making for a brief moment, an expression of surprise.
"If you are worried about hurting my ego, I recommend you stop wasting time with that," Leon said. "I don't know if it is thanks to your natural talent is due to the mana crystal in your forehead, but it looks you have an easy time learning the spells related to the basic elements. Regardless, learn as many as the spell you can, as fast as you can. Then use your remaining time to get rid of your hesitation."
"…All right," Darya nodded.
Although it was a bit depressing after Leon said that, Darya managed to learn Fire Tornado in four days, while Leon had to practice for a week. It couldn't be helped since Darya had the mana crystal in the forehead. The people of her world also had decades of experience using mana. Not only that, but she was also the third generation of a family who became leaders in that world using mana.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill: Fire Tornado.
Cost: 15 mana per second
You obtained 01 status points.
Still, Leon started to wonder if it wasn't a good idea to implant the mana crystal on his forehead. However, even without asking, he was aware that the surgery to put that wasn't something simple, or it was something anyone could do. Darya's grandfather probably had control over that, and Leon was quite sure that it wasn't a good idea to get himself involved with the most influential person of that world.